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Post by Lady Anastasia on Dec 20, 2006 4:31:10 GMT -5
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Post by Lady Anastasia on Dec 20, 2006 4:32:16 GMT -5
NAME: Amaterasu Omi-kami, Heavenly Illuminating Great August Deity
IMAGE: Said to be the most beautiful woman in all the world or Heaven.
SYMBOLS: Rising sun, eight sided mirror, white face, or "omo-shiroi" which was said to be the first words she spoke on leaving a cave she had been hiding in due to trouble Susano-o had started plunging the world into darkness. It means interesting and was in response to her seeing her own face for the first time in the mirror they used as part of the plain to lure her out of the cave.
HOLY DAYS: 12/22. Tohji-Taisai--Shinto rite honoring Sun Goddess Amaterasu. After Storm God Susano-o angered Her, and She withdrew into a cave until enticed out with music and dance.
HOLY BOOKS: The Kojiki (Chronicles of Ancient Events) and the Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan).
PLACE OF WORSHIP: Temple the one at Ise being the largest.
RELATIVES: Izanagi (father), Tsuki-Yumi no Mikoto, Susano-o no Mikoto (brothers), Ninigi (grandson.)
SYNODEITIES: Saule (Latvian), Shakti & Surya (Hindu), Brunissen (Celtic), Igaehindvo (Cherokee), Walu (Aboriginal), Sekhmet (Egypt), Cailleach & Aine (Ireland), Sul (Gaelic.)[/QUOTE]
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Post by Lady Anastasia on Dec 20, 2006 4:33:21 GMT -5
Amaterasu is the most important divine being in Shintoism and the ruler of all the Kami (higher beings), while there are other Gods and Goddesses who came into being before her, such as Kuni toko tachi no Mikoto the first God, and the Eight Divine Pillars who came after him.
She is the one who it is said to rule the Plain of High Heaven and is the source of all light and life, as well as the Goddess who introduced most agriculture and silk worms to Japan, although female is the starting place for the Yang that comes to Earthly beings.
Not born in the conventional way she and her two brothers came about when Izanagi, the God Who Invites, began to grieve for his wife Izanami, the Goddess Who Invites, who had died giving birth to the God of fire.
Having failed to win her back from Yomi no Kuni, the Land of the Dead, when he was overcome by revulsion on seeing her dead form. Izanagi retuned to the Earth and washed himself to clean away his shame and defilement.
While washing, the water that fell from his left eye became Amaterasu the Goddess of the sun, water falling from this right eye became her brother Tsuki-Yumi the moon, while the belligerent God of storms Susano-o appeared when he blew his nose.
Along with providing life and light to the land, Amaterasu made life better for the people by taking over from goddess of food Uke-mochi, who use to produce the lands bounty by vomiting it out, introducing the growing of millet, beans, rice, and wheat. Which had to make dinner a much more pleasant affair!
Amaterasu could be said to be the very spirit of Japan, so much so that it was once believed that she sent her grandson Ninigi to become Jimmu the first emperor ( 660 B.C.E.), giving him the three imperial regalia; the mirror for brightness and honesty, the sword for strength, resolution and wisdom and the jewels for gentleness and compassion, after him the land was ruled by her though the subsequent emperors within whom she was said to dwell.
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Post by Lady Anastasia on Dec 20, 2006 4:36:09 GMT -5
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